Magnify Jesus, Magnify the Lord

Magnify Jesus, Magnify the Lord

Magnify Jesus, Magnify the Lord

For He is worthy

For He is worthy,

For He is worthy,

To be praised. To be praised!

We have been singing this song, "Magnify Jesus" for years now. We even began singing it in Spanish. It dawned on me yesterday what I have actually been singing. I can be honest and say that to me it was just a great worship song. I think it is one of my favorites that I have not tired of yet and probably will not.

I read this from Joy Haney's book, May I Wash Your Feet, "God's kingdom increased because of her ability to decrease as she magnified Christ." Worshipping God is not just about worship. It is saying to Him that I put You first and I humble myself to You and Your will at this moment in time. It is saying, I want You to increase as I decrease (John 3:30). This is why we must continually have praise in our mouth for Him. By doing so, we are continually putting Him first and putting ourselves in a position for Him to bless us. Oh how I want the blessings. We want the blessings! He wants us to have the blessings. All He ask for is my worship and praise.

So, I realized that what I was singing was not just about worship, but it was also a declaration from me. I am asking God to cleanse me, wash me, break me and make me over. Increase Lord in my life as I decrease. There is a God-sized void that only You can fill, Lord. And I am asking You to fill this thru my worship. I am asking for You to fill this thru my praise, Lord. Increase in my life, Lord. Increase in my life!

Based upon what I have realized this is how the song "Magnify Jesus" now sounds to me:

Magnify Jesus, Magnify the Lord (Increase Lord as I decrease)

Magnify Jesus, Magnify the Lord (Increase Lord as I decrease)

For He is Worthy (Because You are greater than my problems)

For He is Worthy (You are greater than my issues)

For He is Worthy (You are GREAT LORD and GREATLY to be PRAISED)

To be Praised (I praise You all of the days of my life)

To be Praised! (Your praise shall continuously be in my mouth)

How Big is Goliath?

Was in discussion today about the height of a cubit. By definition a cubit is an ancient unit of linear measure, originally equal to the length of the forearm from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow, or about 17-22 inches (43 to 56 centimeters). The Bible says that Goliath was 6 cubits and a span (I Samuel 17:4). This means he was anywhere between 8.5 to 11 feet tall.

Not sure why this number seems so small to me. I guess growing up, Goliath seemed more like a monster than a man and therefore reached a preposterous height no man had ever seen. He was certainly no shorty by any means, but he just doesn't seem so scary. I would love to stand next to someone so tall. It would make me feel short and that is hard to do seeing how I stand at almost 6' tall. It is interesting how we view people as a kid vs as an adult.

Adam called them

“And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.” Genesis 2:19

If Adam named every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, how long do you think he was thinking of names? And how many names did he have to create? It makes me smile to know that God gave Adam this privilege. I wonder at what point did Adam run out of names? Obviously, he made it through because in verse 20 it goes on to state that Adam went ahead and named them all.

There is estimated to be anywhere between 2 – 100 million species of animals and plants on the earth today. A more consistent number I have seen is around 2 million. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring (www.wikipedia.com). Each species does not account for the individual members of that family, but the family as a whole. Scientist today have attempted or are still attempting to classify and name all species though they run into difficulties with differences in opinions and redundancies (The Environmental Literacy Council, www.enviroliteracy.org)

Adam was just one man who named every beast and fowl that God created. He had to come up with some crazy stuff and God loved every one of them. What scientist can’t do today, one man did in the beginning of time. We have a hard time naming our pets! When I was young I had 4 dogs and one cat. The cat was never named, three of my dogs were all called Boy and one was called Princess. Can you tell that I had issues with naming my animals?

Maybe I should ask for the mind of Adam when naming my animals. Who knows what I would come up with!

Here is one for you; do you know what an Alpaca is? What about an Ermine? I didn’t make these up. They are real animals. Check out Wikipedia for more.